World Cup 2006 News

15th of May is set to be the deadline for naming each countries 23-man-squad for the World Cup 2006 in Germany. Stay tuned.

France midfielder and former World and European Player of the year Zinedine Zidane said he wants to end his international career in July with a second World Cup triumph in Germany.

It would be good if I could finish my international career in the French team with a big and beautiful success. I want to become world champion again - that’s my goal.

Hard to say if the French Team is ready for another success after the struggle 2004 at the European Championships. They have not been in that good shape before Zidane´s return in August 2005. France seemed to even fail qualification that´s why Zizou decided to come back. I´m looking forward to his last international appearance and I definitely am confident that he will give a great performance. If his team could do so as well France might a chance.

One of my favorite players overall is Luis Figo. The smart playmaker gave his comeback to eventually lead the Portuguese to the first World Cup Trophy. Fifaworldcup.com asked him a few questions concerning the mistakes Portugal made 2002 in Korea / Japan, his coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and the chances for Portuguese success this summer.

As a former FIFA World Player of the Year, Inter Milan and Portugal midfielder Luis Figo has all the experience required to be one of the stars of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™.

Take a glance at the whole interview.

Brazil may be one of the favorites this summer but the World Cup´s History seems to be against the defending champion. Since the 1930´s only two teams have successfully defended their title (Italy 1938, Brazil 1962). Nevertheless, I don´t really think those Brazilians have to worry that much about history. They actually do have one of the best (if not the best) teams in the field so we´ll see. I´m thinking about a poll who´s gonna win in Germany on July 9th.

The former best keeper on the planet, Oliver Kahn, is now fine with being #2 after opponent Jens Lehmann for the upcoming World Cup.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s important for the national team for me to be there, despite my disappointment,”

German Coach Juergen Klinsmann settled the long over-due german keeper question in favor of Arsenal´s Jens Lehmann. It´s probably the last World Cup for both Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann since they´re both 36 years old. Kahn´s disappointment might be even higher given that he can´t undo his 2002 final performance against Brazil. We´ll see how this works out.

Those who actually bought tickets were told that those pamphlets would ship at least 6 weeks before the World Cup starts. So I guess within the next week or two I should find something quiet nice in the mailbox as I am one of those lucky guys. I´m going to watch the match Sweden vs. Paraguay on June 15th in Berlin. If there´s anything you´d like me to cover please let me know. Living in Germany I might have possibilities that others don´t. Cheers.

Having made its way around the globe, the World Cup Trophy finally arrived in the hosting country with Freiburg as its first stop on Tuesday. Take a look at all the cities the trophy´s gonna visit here. It´s exciting you can literally feel the spirit of the World Cup more and more even though it´s still 2 more months away. Exciting.

According to Diego Maradona Brazil remains the team to beat during the upcoming World Cup this summer. What´s with a little patriotism, Diego?

He even claims England, Italy and Germany to better than Argentina.

I don’t think you can either have confidence in or underestimate Argentina after what happened in 2002. Everyone was saying we were going to win it but we got knocked out in the first round.

So true. Actually, one might say the champion of 1986 does have a tricky group this year too with Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro and Ivory Coast. I don´t really dare to venture a guess who´s gonna win this group. Although, I do like the style of African Nations Cup finalist Ivory Coast. We´ll see.

I was thinking about taking polls before. Today, I decided to set up a sweet little poll every once in a while depending on how many people will participate. The very first poll would be as follows: What do you think which team will win Group A? Interesting question I guess, will Germany stumble in the first round or will the host even win the group? What do you think?